Pages

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Talbot Ave. Station opens on MBTA Fairmount Line

Talbot Ave. Station in September 2012
Wikipedia Commons

The first of four new stations on the MBTA's Fairmount line is set to open Monday, November 12th, after nearly two years of preparation and construction. The Talbot Avenue stop, which began construction in November of 2010, will include two full-length high-level platforms and will be located just north of Codman Square in Dorchester.

The Fairmount line is the only MBTA commuter rail line to lie primarily within the city of Boston, serving the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park. Currently, there are only four stations on the line, Uphams Corner, Morton Street, Fairmount, and Readville, all of which get served every half hour during rushes and every hour during off-peak times. There is no night or weekend service on the line.

In 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed to make improvements to the line, in part because of its legally binding commitment to mitigate increased air pollution from the Big Dig.

The MBTA has allocated $37 million to the project and $39 million has been allocated from the Commonwealth from the Emergency Needs Bond Bill of 2007. The total cost of the project is estimated to be about $79.4 million.

Wikipedia Commons

To date, the existing Morton St. and Uphams Corner stations have been completely rebuilt, six bridges have been either replaced or repaired, and both signaling and track work has been completed. After the Talbot Ave. station is opened Monday, three more stations will need to be opened before the line is complete. Stations are currently being constructed at New Market Square in Dorchester (planned opening June 2013), Washington Street (Four Corners/Geneva) in Dorchester (planned opening April 2013), and Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester (planned opening sometime in 2015).

The addition of new stations and the upgrades to the existing infrastructure are projected to divert 220 trips from automobiles to transit, and increase daily weekday ridership on the line from around 2,800 to 7,300 passengers.

After the Talbot Ave. station opens on Monday it will be served by trains 28 times every weekday (14 inbound and 14 outbound). You can access the new schedule for the Fairmount Line (effective Nov. 7th) HERE.